There they stood, a room plated with the most luxurious materials hell could gather from it's terrain, the most luxurious and finest architecture known to Hell itself stood within the walls of the Magne mansion, a place only select demons were allowed to set foot in.
And within the mansion stood all the high class overlords, who ranged in terms of power and influence across Hell.
At the moment, they all stood in the middle of the ballroom, each overlord standing beside their closely related factions, their allies or friends. Ones who were unaffiliated often strayed to the side.
Moments later, heels clicked against the floor as a 6'ft tall male with a large apple themed attire walking in, wielding in a staff. His skin was pale white and red blush stickers clung to his cheeks, eyes wide and sharp, teeth pointed and lips curled to reveal a toothy grin. His suit was red-velvet themed, white and red outlined his attire.
"Good evening everyone," His voice was smooth, sickeningly so, like a slithering snake yet as calm as a hunter with his prey. The King scanned the room, his grin becoming larger as he could identify everyone present,"Ah...I'm so glad that all of you could come to the meeting today. It's a pleasure to have guests within my homely adobe. I'm sure all of you would agree, yes?"
The other overlords nodded their heads in agreement. It wasn't like they had much of a choice in this matter, Lucifer was the most powerful being in Hell, there was no way to disobey his order. If Lucifer wanted you present, you had to be present.
"Good to know!" He sneered,"After all, this event would be rather dull without guests and what better way for us to celebrate this formal occasion without a little fun?"
The other overlords paused, usually this was the part Lucifer allowed them to go get drinks and food. Something must've changed, everyone giving Lucifer incredulous looks at the change in plans.
"Don't give me that look everyone! I'm merely saying that we should all play a little game! To spice up the party so to speak!"
Stares. Lucifer was receiving stares of confusion from the other rulers of Hell, wondering what was going on inside that head of his
"Oh come on now, don't tell me you've never played games in your youth? I know when I was a wee little angel I used to play games with my siblings, Father always orchestrated them for us and we set out to play! It was always a competition and Michael and I were always fighting for the top! About the only thing I missed is actually being able to play with someone!"
The other overlords gave each other looks, they hadn't come to hear Lucifer's family problems. It was fairly awkward, the tense moment was enough to put them all on edge.
"So in turn of those events, I've decided to orchestrate a little game myself! You see, I've decided that we should all play a scavenger hunt within my mansion. I've placed hidden items across my mansion and I'm instructing all of you to find them!"
Suddenly, a slender young doll woman with grayish-brown skin raised her hand. She had mixed color hair that was held together by two pigtails with white lace hair ties. Her dress was white, velvet and black with heart shapes at the bottom of her dress and black tights underneath and pink shoes.
"Yes Velvet?"
"But your mansion is huge! How will we ever find anything in here!?" She squealed, voice high pitched and lively.
"Isn't that the point of the game?" Lucifer asked,"It has to be challenging, Velvet."
Velvet whined, the demoness groaning,"Yeah, but I don't wanna be searching for something for hours cuz I suck at these games! They're too hard and I can't reach anything! I'm too short!"
Lucifer sighed,"Velvet, I'm literally only a few inches taller than you and I can operate around the house…"
"But you're the king and you're ultra powerful! I'm weaker and smaller!"
The King's eyes rolled back into his head, pinching the bridge between his eyes.
Truthfully, he was just planning on everyone finding things for themselves but Velvet's whining was becoming grating to his ears and he didn't want to listen to her complain throughout the game about how unfair it was and so on and so forth.
Lucifer then smiled, an idea coming to mind,"Hm...Normally I'd dismiss your accusations, Velvet. But given the game we're playing, I suppose I can add a little leeway, especially in a group this size. Perhaps having you put in teams would solve the issue."
The other overlords seemed intrigued, believing that Velvet's complaining had actually gotten them somewhere. Still, some were reluctant, knowing how Lucifer was with his...games.
"And I have the perfect solution! Everyone will work in pairs of my choosing!"
There was visible disappointment, everyone giving each other annoyed stares as Lucifer announced his new rules. Of course there just had to be a catch for fulfilling Velvet's request, it would've been too easy otherwise.
"Don't give me that look everyone! I assure you, you're all in good hands! Now let's start off with the groups. Velvet, you're going with Valentino."
"Yay! Val, we're gonna be a team! Isn't this awesome!"
Valentino sneered,"Course it is, babydoll~"
Lucifer then began announcing everyone else's teams. One by one, everyone soon found themselves with a partner of Lucifer's choosing, most of whom barely interacted with each other prior to this, likely this was Lucifer's way of having fun during the game by placing them with random people.
Rosie stared at the person she got placed with awkwardly. She didn't know her at all. She had seen her with Lucifer once or twice but she never talked to her. She then said,"Hello, my name is Rosie, what's yours?"
The woman stared back at her, giving her a cold gaze, frown remaining. She looked fairly humanoid, but her hands were freakishly large and shaped like claws."..."
"Not much for words huh?"
Once again, nothing. Guess she didn't like talking much.
'Damn, I'm starting to wish I got with Alastor. He's far more lively than this girl…'
Speaking of Alastor, he was still one of the overlords left without a partner. Alastor stood there, noticing that the lack of options was becoming apparent. Everyone else was getting picked except him and the group was dwindling down.
He tried to remain positive, however it was becoming obvious that there weren't that many people. The people he would've wanted to go with were already taken. Normally, he wouldn't care who he got stuck with at this point…
If it weren't for the fact Vox didn't have a partner either and the choices were decreasing. There were only four demons left with both him and Vox included and he was crossing his fingers that luck was on his side.
"And Vox, you're going with Alastor."
There was a moment of silence, Vox and Alastor staring at each other in disbelief. The TV Demon snarled,"Oh come on! Seriously? I got stuck with Bambi!? This is rigged!"
"I'm literally choosing the partners, Vox. How can it be rigged?"
"You put the others with random people with the exception of Val and Velvet and now you're just putting me with my rival when there were two other demons we could've gone with? Do you expect me to believe that this wasn't on purpose?"
"Even if it was, you know you're not in the position to do much, right Vox?" Lucifer asked flatly,"I mean, surely you know your place among the hierarchy, do you not?"
Vox tensed, he is not an idiot. He knew damn well he was in no position to order Lucifer around. But still, it was hard not to notice how unfair this was given Lucifer just set him and Alastor together when there were other options on the table.
"I do, but still, why put me with him? What's the point!?"
"Make things interesting? I mean, it wouldn't be a scavenger hunt if there wasn't a competition and given how you two are, I'm certain you'll strike up some type of entertainment while on the hunt…"
"Great...Still, what the hell are we even looking for? Are these household items we're supposed to search for?"
"Not exactly," Lucifer mentioned,"These items aren't what you'd consider household items. More like valuables."
"And we're just supposed to find them? How will we know what you're talking about specifically?" Alastor inquired.
"With this," Lucifer handed out fliers with hints and a description of the item."You are to return this item to me upon it being found. The group who finds it first and returns to me will be personally rewarded for their efforts. Understand everyone?"
The group nodded.
"Great, now scram!"
Everyone set about in their separate teams, now being on the hunt for the treasures Lucifer had requested of them to find.
-
Vox snarled, his eyes narrowed as he eyed Alastor going down the hall. Alastor was holding paper with the directions. They hadn't said a word to each other since this little competition started.
Breaking the silence, the TV Demon started out with a complaint,"Dammit...Can't believe we got stuck with each other."
"Neither can I. Guess Lucifer likes playing jokes on us,"He replied back bitterly,"Hopefully we can find this little heirloom of his as fast as possible so we can forget this ever happened."
"Agreed, I cannot believe he suckered us into playing this stupid scavenger hunt. We're grown adults playing children's games with someone who is older than all of us combined. The guy is supposed to be a king yet he acts like a kid when it comes down to it."
Alastor huffed, turning his cheek,"In the very least, we should try to satisfy Lucifer's whims. I don't care for the prize but surely if we can find this item we can go back to normal…"
"Yeah…Say, what does that note say anyway? Are there any hints that would actually be useful?"
"Well, from what I'm getting, this note is instructing us to go into the library. Perhaps what we seek is in there."
They located the Magne library, Vox opening the door and blinked. It was hard not to be somewhat amazed by the interior of the library, looking just as luxurious as the rest of the mansion.
"Damn this place is huge…" Vox mentioned,"Can't say I'm surprised. Lucifer always liked to be grandiose with just about everything. Probably his ego speaking…"
"Not like you're one to talk," Alastor chided.
"At least I admit it, he's too prideful to do so…" He shot back,"Not like it matters. We just need to find that piece so we can get out of here and leave. Does the paper say anything else?"
"Not really, it just says to search around for anything 'eye catching' so to speak…"
"Damn, that's just helpful," Vox growled,"Hints are fucking useless…We don't even know what we're looking for and he just sends us off."
The other overlord shrugged,"Oh well, better get to searching…"
They began inspecting the area for anything that would draw their suspicion. The hints were useless, something that Vox speculated Lucifer did on purpose to mess with them. They tried searching high and low, but it felt like they weren't getting anywhere.
"Ridiculous!" Vox growled,"It feels like we're getting nowhere. We've been searching for almost an hour and we've got nothing. This is such a waste of time! We're going in circles and nothing is getting done."
"Well what do you suppose we do? If we go back to Lucifer without the item he requests he might get angry. You know how Lucifer is, if people don't do what he wants he has this tendency of inflicting his anger upon them."
"That's stupid, we're playing a kids game and he's going to punish us for not getting some stupid item?"
"Given how he is, he might just do that…"
"Great, now we can't go back without the piece if we don't want to be reprimanded. Though we searched just about everywhere, so who knows where it could be…" Vox then stood up and leaned against a bookshelf. He looked upon the top shelf and paused, seeing a book that seemed out of place. Normally, he'd dismiss it, but something about it seemed crooked."Hey Alastor, can you get the ladder?"
Alastor paused, looking up from one of the books he was reading,"Why?"
"I think I see something up there. Mind giving me a hand?"
Alastor rolled his eyes before wheeling over the ladder to Vox, who in turn began to climb up. He reached for the book and pulled at it, shocked the bookshelf began to rumble and pull back, revealing a hidden entrance.
Both Alastor and Vox stared at each other in disbelief.
"Well I'll be, it actually worked."
"Damn, didn't think that would happen…" Vox got down from the ladder and motioned forward,"Come on Alastor, perhaps this little trinket of Lucifer's is within this passageway."
Alastor narrowed his eyes,"Are you certain we should travel down there? This sounds like a trap."
"What choice do we have? We can't just uncover a passageway and not see where it leads. Let's see where this takes us. That is, unless you're scared."
"I am not scared," Alastor shot back.
"Then follow me…"
They trudged forward, noticing that the passageway led underground through a flight of stairs. The moment they entered, Vox heard the door close behind them,"Errr.."
"Looks like we're not going back the way which we came. Surely there's another way out…" Alastor replied, though his tone sounded doubtful.
"Yeah…"
The longer they walked, the more it felt like a maze. Truthfully, Vox wasn't certain how long they had been down there, it could've been hours with the amount of time they had been underground. All he knew by then was that they didn't know how to get out and he couldn't remember which way they had started from.
"This sucks…"
"I know, quit rubbing it in. It's not like we can leave."
Yeah. They couldn't leave without the artifact, so they continued onward despite growing more and more pessimistic as time passed.
"You think the others already found their pieces?"
Alastor nodded,"Most definitely. I doubt Lucifer made it this hard for them. They probably are waiting for us to come out."
"Not like we can get out. The gate shut behind us and I don't remember the way back."
"Neither do I. Hopefully we can find an alternate route when we get our hands on the heirloom…" Alastor then paused,"Wait, I think we're out of the maze."
"We are?"
"Look," Alastor pointed ahead, now seeing they had made it past the maze and into a different area,"We're finally free from this damned maze."
"Finally. About time. Still, we should be cautious, who knows what else Lucifer put in this place…"
They slowly crept inside the next area, noticing that this seemed to be some type of treasure room with riches. Vox paused, reaching out and touching one of the piles of gold coins. He felt them and smirked,"They're real."
"Good, that means the rest of the things in here are likely real…" Alastor then narrowed his eyes when he saw Vox slipping multiple gold coins into his pocket."Really Vox? You know Lucifer will be mad if you touch anything you're not supposed to."
"Who says he has to know? I doubt he's going to notice a few coins being missing. Besides, with how much money he has, I doubt he really needs this stuff anyhow."
Alastor scoffed,"Whatever, just don't blame me if he does notice…"
"He won't," Vox assured,"Now come on, what does that hint say? Does it say anything specific that we should look for?"
"It says, 'To find what you seek, find two pressure plates and the answer will be right before your eyes.'"
"The hell does that even mean? What pressure plates?" Vox asked,"I sure as hell don't see anything in here. These hints are absolute garbage and-"
Click.
"Huh?" Vox paused, noticing his foot was on a literal pressure plate,"Uh…."
"Looks like you found one of them…" Alastor then searched for the other and stepped on it,"Done."
Moments later, a pillar rose from an inner door, rising to reveal a purple gemstone sitting inside a gold clawed hand. Alastor and Vox narrowed their eyes, Alastor tempted to reach out to touch it but withdrew his hand, saying,"I don't trust this…"
"Neither do I, but it seems to be what we're looking for. This thing looks like it's jammed in tight, so it's probably best we get this out asp. Besides, it's just a crystal, what's the worst that could happen?"
Alastor and Vox placed their hands on the gemstone, unaware of what would happen they placed their hands on it, they couldn't help but notice that the gemstone glowed, as if it had been awakened by their touch.
"Huh? What's going on?"
"I don't know…" Vox replied, becoming startled as it began shaking,"Wait, is this thing alive!?"
Before Alastor could answer, the gemstone quickly began sucking them in, giving them no chance to resist or fight back. The gemstone's blinding light enveloped their vision and the last thing Vox and Alastor saw was each other before the gemstone absorbed their being.
Moments later, the stone sent out a large energy wave, the force shaking the world around them before tearing open a portal from sheer force before sucking in the gemstone, leaving behind an lifeless treasure room, the two overlords now long gone.
If you liked 'Rivals Together' you're in luck cuz this is gonna be a better written one. Tell me what you guys think below, be sure to show you support!